Boy faces charges
in lighter attack

The 12-year-old intentionally
burned a Japanese visitor,
according to police

A 19-year-old visiting Japanese student, whose hair and blouse were set on fire allegedly by a 12-year-old boy Sunday, was afraid to remove clothes from a dryer Monday night.

"She feared heat," said teacher Toshi Okamura. "That reminded her of what happened."

Police said the suspect set the victim's blouse on fire as she boarded a bus near Macy's on Kailua Road at 4:30 p.m. Police later arrested the suspect along Keolu Drive in Enchanted Lake.

Okamura said the boy came from behind and used a lighter to set her hair and blouse on fire. When she realized that her clothes were burning, she immediately removed her blouse, burning her hands, he said.

The Waimanalo boy was charged with first-degree criminal property damage, although he was arrested for suspicion of second-degree assault. The boy has been detained and faces trial in Family Court on Oct. 7.

Prosecutors defended their decision to charge the boy with first-degree criminal property damage. "It was brought because it was a more severe charge, it fit the facts and circumstances of the case and it was only appropriate for us to bring the most severe charge possible," said city Prosecutor Peter Carlisle.

For an adult, criminal property damage is a felony punishable by a maximum of 10 years imprisonment, and second-degree assault has a maximum five-year term.

Because the suspect is 12 and cannot be tried as an adult, the severest penalty he faces in Family Court is incarceration at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility up to age 19.

The student from Kagoshima, Japan, suffered second-degree burns to her hands, arms and back, portions of which are bandaged.

"We want to take the pain away, and we want to make you happy," Visitor Aloha Society of Hawaii President and Executive Director Jessica Lani Rich said she told her. Rich offered a free cruise or whatever she wanted to make her happy.

The young woman, whose hands are partially bandaged, asked if she could have her hair shampooed.

Rich located a Japanese-speaking hairstylist in Waikiki to trim and wash the woman's hair, a section of which was burned off.

The first-year college student who majors in life science was happy to be in Hawaii for the first time, and had just completed the first of a two-week study tour that ends this Sunday, Okamura said.

The tour group of 40 students studies English and culture at Kapiolani Community College during the week.

The attack is a tragedy, "but to somebody who doesn't speak English, this must be a tremendously terrifying experience," he said.